The memorial emerged out of the grass, then as I walked alongside, it rose higher, and higher still, 57,939 American names were inscribed on it in 1982 when it was dedicated, arranged by
casualty date—the day the person was killed, or sustained wounds that led to death.

Sometimes new recruits were punished for something they didn’t do well enough, or someone in their
platoon didn’t do well enough: cleaning their boots, pitching a tent, performing in drill competitions.

American leaders
fervently believed in the “domino theory”: if one country became Communist, the country next to it would fall to Communism, then the next, like a row of dominoes, rapidly knocking each other over.

In early 1963, Horan was selected to be part of a five-man American team working on the Strategic
Hamlet Program. Initiated in the United States, the program was intended to stop the Viet Cong who infiltrated farming villages at night and forced villagers to side with the Communists.

“This is another type of war, new in its intensity, ancient in its origin—war by guerrillas,
subversives, insurgents, assassins, war by ambush instead of by combat; by infiltration, instead of aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him.”

“This is another type of war, new in its intensity, ancient in its origin—war by guerrillas, subversives,
insurgents, assassins, war by ambush instead of by combat; by infiltration, instead of aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him.”